


Hopes and Dreams

by lea_hazel



Category: Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: Best Friends, F/M, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Mother-Son Relationship, Teen Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-10-02
Updated: 2006-10-02
Packaged: 2017-10-19 16:22:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/202838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lea_hazel/pseuds/lea_hazel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Veronica and Wallace make a mistake. Most people handle it as well as can be expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hopes and Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally written for a prompt by wottie on LiveJournal.

The first word out of her mouth was _goddammit_ , which she then repeated several times. Her first action, however, was one she was starting to realize she didn't take half as often as she should; she picked up the phone and called Wallace.

Neither of their parents would entirely approve of two A.M. visits, even if they (ironically) trusted them absolutely with each other. So she quietly snuck out, leaving Backup for fear of his barking waking up Dad, but taking her trusty tazer. Wallace was waiting at the end of his street when she drove up, and he got into the passenger seat without a word. Just as he'd accepted without a word that she needed to see him immediately, even though it was well past midnight on a school night, and he’d sounded half-asleep when he picked up the phone.

So she told him.

"Are you sure it's not Duncan's?" he asked, and it was _Wallace_ , so it was okay, it wasn't at all like he was shaking responsibility, or trying to accuse her of something.

So she was honest. "I wish," she said, "but we always used protection. We..."

"...Were drunk," finished Wallace.

Veronica shrugged. "At least, I was. You seemed pretty functional."

"I didn't --" Wallace started to object.

"Wallace," said Veronica, "I'm not saying you took advantage of my drunkenness. I know you'd never do something like that."

Wallace didn't say anything for a while. "So, um... do you know what you want to do, yet?"

That was when she broke down and just started crying, because it was the most perfect and thoughtful thing she could imagine anyone saying to a pregnant high schooler whose hopes and dreams might all have just been shattered. He even understood that she wasn't crying because of him, well, she was, but not in a bad way. He just sat next to her and waited for her to calm down on her own.

Then they just sat. And talked. The sky was beginning to get light when she suddenly understood how Meg must have felt. This was never supposed to happen to them. They were supposed to be golden, prodigies, teenagers who didn't rebel and did think about their futures. They were supposed to _have_ futures, and now Meg never would, _never_  in a way that was much worse than the worst-case-scenario she and Wallace had come up with, over the night. It really _wasn't_  the end of the world. Who knew?

So they waited for the bakery to open, and Wallace took the fresh bagels and baguette and walked home, because his was closer, while Veronica drove home to get Dad.

Dad and Alicia weren't glaring daggers at each other, like she'd expected them to. Maybe they'd gotten over their issues, maybe they were more mature than she would ever be, or maybe they could just hear in her voice and Wallace's how much more serious this was.

Dad was heartbroken. She could see it in his eyes. She was trying his paternal tolerance when she stayed over at Duncan's suite, and to think that his daughter wasn't a virgin like he liked to pretend was rough enough without realizing that everything was changing for her, for both of them, for all of them, and all because of her irresponsibility. He, too, had had hopes and dreams for his little girl, college, career, big white wedding, then, maybe, grandchildren. Now everything was changing. She could see him thinking it, and couldn't help but wonder if she'd feel the same way someday, if she went through with this, about her own daughter or son.

Alicia was tight-lipped, but not for a moment reserved. She was warm in a way that would have made Veronica cry, if Wallace was the only one there, in a way that Mom should have been, so many times. "Honey, if you want to keep it, I can change around my hours and babysit while you're at work. If you want, I can make some calls and arrange a wedding by next month. And if you want me to, I'll drive you to the clinic tomorrow, and wait with you there while you get it done."

"And if you want, Cliff knows some good adoption agencies, and I'm sure he wouldn't mind making a few calls," said Dad.

She did start crying then, and Dad hugged her, and everything was okay.

They drove to school, then, and while she and Wallace went to class, their uncharacteristic sobriety drawing an odd look here and there, Dad went to the school offices, to talk to Principal Clemmons. During English, she tried to imagine his face when he heard; she wasn't your classic A+ student, but she still thought he'd be a bit shocked, maybe a bit disgusted, maybe surprised that she didn't just skip a day of school, abort and not tell anyone about it.

She refused three offers of jobs during the first fifteen minutes of lunch, little things, spying on siblings for leverage, on ex boy- and girlfriends, stuff like that, all while she was looking for Logan. Words couldn't describe how much she didn't want to have _that_ talk, but Wallace had convinced her; he was telling Jackie, after all.

She tried to think that it would be easy, like telling Mac had been. But maybe that was mostly because she couldn't see her face, or because Mac was also a girl, because they'd never dated, because they weren't ever really close, or basically because it was completely different. And Mac, she knew, was surprised at her failure just like everyone else, even the people who never believed that she and Wallace were "just friends", whatever "just" meant. But she didn't have that kicked-puppy look, and no matter how often she saw his face with that expression it never stopped wringing her heart.

"Are you two... dating now?"

She looked down. "I don't know."

"You're having a baby together."

 _I know, you idiot_. "We're not getting married."

"Does that mean you're single?"

"Logan!"

And then he had that kicked puppy smile, which was so much worse. "Can't blame a guy for trying. I guess no matter how often I have my heart trampled, I'll always come back for more from you."

"Logan, I--"

And then he walked away, and she let him, because she couldn't do this right now. Because this was why she left him to begin with. There was only so much she could do about other people's hopes for her, and now she had to take care of her own hopes, because Duncan was gone, he'd walked out on her again, and just like last time he hadn't meant to, but couldn't not.

Wallace went home right after school, that day. Someone had to call his bio dad, after all, and he wanted to be the one who told him. So Veronica went home alone and cried herself to sleep on her bed.

And there was Lilly.

"Wow."

Veronica half turned over. "I thought I'd never see you again, after last summer."

"I thought you'd be smart enough to use a condom," replied Lilly.

"Touché." Flipping herself, she sat up to look at her.

Lilly was sitting on her desk, wearing that same pep squad uniform, her legs crossed and dangling. "So," she said, "have you thought about names, yet?"

"Lilly if it's a girl?" said Veronica, raising an eyebrow.

Shaking her head, Lilly said, "You wouldn't do that, even if you didn't know that Duncan named his baby after me."

Veronica shot up. "Is he nuts? It's like a big, florescent sign for the FBI with _please arrest me_  splashed all over it!"

"You knew he would, anyway," said Lilly. "He was always kinda mushy, like that."

Veronica sat back. "Yeah, I guess."

Lilly smiled sweetly and leaned forward on the desk, so that Veronica could see, again, the dark, bloody mess on the back of her head. "So, names."

"Amanda?" said Veronica with a shrug. "Maybe Kyle for a boy? I don't know. I have about thirty eight weeks to think about it, don't I?"

"You'll have a lot to think about in the next nine months," said Lilly.

Groaning, Veronica leaned back against the wall, throwing her arms wide. "I thought I was done with all that! I don't think I can take another year like last year. Is there something about me that just attracts trouble, like some sort of macabre magnet?"

"You know it," said Lilly, winking.

"C'mon."

"Truth is," said Lilly, "you're the only one who can do it, and you know it. You, and that gorgeous sidekick of yours, the one who was so kind as to father your future child."

Veronica sighed and closed here eyes. "Any child of ours is going to be a mess."

"Any child of yours, my BFF, will be _special_."

"Being special isn't always fun," said Veronica.

"I wouldn't know. I've never been special."

"That's not true, Lilly! You were always special to--" she rushed forward, opening her eyes, but Lilly was already gone. 


End file.
